Francis Poulenc

Poulenc Couldn’t Believe What Ravel Said about Saint-Saëns

One hundred years ago, 18-year-old Francis Poulenc was looking for a composition teacher, and being recommended by the pianist Ricardo Viñes to Maurice…

Music Features

The Philadelphia Orchestra Plays an All-French Program on WRTI: Sunday, October 4 at 1 PM

Gregg Whiteside

The three works on WRTI’s Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert re-broadcast this Sunday, October 4th, all hail from France. To varying degrees, each echoes…

Arts Desk

Poulenc's Aubade: A Still-Unique Choreographic Concerto

Susan Lewis

In 1929, an unusual work by a versatile 20th-century French composer premiered at the home of his wealthy patrons. As WRTI’s Susan Lewis reports, this…

French composer Francis Poulenc (photographed in 1960 in New York) is famous for his music and his many contradictions.

WRTI Picks from NPR Music

A Little Part Of Poulenc In All Of Us

Tom Huizenga

Poulenc wrote music that popped like corks from Champagne, dizzy with the sounds of Parisian music halls and jazz. Yet he also channeled great emotional depth and spirituality.